The President Sang Amazing Grace by Joan Baez

Album: Whistle Down the Wind (2018)

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This song is a poignant and moving tribute to the victims of the tragic 2015 Charleston church shooting and Barack Obama's tearful eulogy at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Singer-songwriter Zoe Mulford wrote the tune not long after the 2015 massacre.

"I was driving when I heard 'The President Sang Amazing Grace,'" Joan Baez recalled to The Atlantic, "and I had to pull over to make sure I heard whose song it was because I knew I had to sing it."
Filmmaker and painter Jeff Scher directed the animated video for the song which retells the story of President Barack Obama's performance of "Amazing Grace" at the memorial service.

"[When Barack] Obama sang 'Amazing Grace' at the service for the Charleston Church shooting victims, it was deeply moving," Scher recounted. "Somehow Obama, with his humble singing voice, turned grief into grace. With humility, compassion, and a two-hundred-year-old hymn, he made us feel that the evil deeds of a sick individual could not shake the bonds of our common humanity."

Comments: 1

Cynthia from Demand, FloridaWhat president was she referring to singing “Amazing Grace” in her 60’s folk song?

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